Bureau of Transportation Statistics Pat Hu, Director Bureau of Transportation Statistics Research and Innovative Technology Administration United States Department of Transportation

2 U.S. Department of Transportation Research and Innovative Technology Administration History and Overview ■In 1992, the Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) created BTS as a federal statistical agency to:Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act (ISTEA) □administer transportation data collection, analysis, and reporting; and □ensure the most cost-effective use of resources to monitor: □Transportation’s contributions to the economy □Transportation’s implications, e.g., safety, environment ■BTS is one of the 15 statutorily recognized Federal Statistical Agencies. As such, BTS □is policy-neutral objective broker for the facts, □does independent data collection and analysis, and assists all the other modal agencies to be more effective and efficient in their data collection and analysis, □sets standards for transportation data, and □has special statutory protection for maintaining confidentiality of data.

3 U.S. Department of Transportation Research and Innovative Technology Administration Overview (Continued) ■ In 2005, BTS became part of the Research and Innovative Technology Administration. ■ Budget and Size □ SAFETEA-LU authorizes $27 million annually □ Airline program $4 million; □ Approximately 55 Federal employees ■ Advised by a 10-member advisory council appointed by the Secretary of Transportation

4 U.S. Department of Transportation Research and Innovative Technology Administration BTS Responsibilities ■Provide data, statistics, and analysis for fiscally responsible investments to ■Continue economic recovery ■Improve economic competitiveness ■Strengthen communities ■Improve safety  Ensure reliability of decisions by reviewing the validity of both data and method;  Coordinate collection of information with the operating administrations;  Modernize data programs;  Encourage and facilitate data standardization;  Publish comprehensive statistics on the performance and impacts of transportation systems;  Make statistics accessible;  Establish and maintain a National Transportation Library

5 U.S. Department of Transportation Research and Innovative Technology Administration Data and Statistics Development  Safety □ Confidential Close Call (C 3 RS) Reporting System. ▪The aim is to collect precursor data to improve rail safety through voluntary reporting and other non-regulatory means ▪An FRA Research Safety Initiative -- 6 th year running; received and processed, in a secure area, over 2,350 reports on close call events. □ Safety Data.Gov ▪As part of the Data.Gov initiative, the goal is to make data/knowledge related to public safety accessible in one central location. ▪USDOT is taking the lead in partnership with Departments of Justice and Labor, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and others. ▪500 data sets would be accessible and searchable through standardized key words.

6 U.S. Department of Transportation Research and Innovative Technology Administration Data and Statistics Development (cont’d)  Freight □ 2012 Commodity Flow Survey ▪Is the primary source of domestic freight shipments by commodity types, origins and destinations, values, weights, modes of transport, etc. ▪Data are to be collected from 100,000 + shippers. ▪Data collection began in December 2011, and will last for 12 months. □ TransBorder Freight Data ▪Data represent official U.S. trade with Canada and Mexico for shipments by surface modes since North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). ▪Specifically, it collects freight flow data by commodity type and by mode of transportation for U.S. exports to, and imports from, Canada and Mexico.

7 U.S. Department of Transportation Research and Innovative Technology Administration Data and Statistics Development (cont’d)  Freight (cont’d) □ International Freight Data System (IFDS) ▪Is a data warehouse containing detailed data on all imports and exports. ▪IFDS will address freight data gaps and improve geographical representation of imports and exports. □ Air Freight Traffic ▪Monthly data reported by certificated U.S. and foreign air carriers’ freight and mail transported. ▪Carriers also report data on aircraft type, service class, available capacity, and aircraft hours ramp-to- ramp and airborne. Passengers Freight Passengers (millions)Freight (millions of tons)

8 U.S. Department of Transportation Research and Innovative Technology Administration Data and Statistics Development (cont’d)  Passenger Travel □ Air Travel ▪Monthly data are reported on passengers, including enplanements, origins, destinations, on-time performance, and tarmac delay. □ 2010 National Census of Ferry Operators (NCFO) ▪It collects information on each ferry vessel, route segments, passenger/vehicle boardings, peak periods, modal connectivity, terminal information.

9 U.S. Department of Transportation Research and Innovative Technology Administration Data and Statistics Development (cont’d)  Passenger Travel (cont’d) □ GIS-based Intermodal Passenger Connectivity Database ▪Nationwide database of 2,500 intercity transportation facilities with scheduled passenger services. Percentage of passenger transportation terminals with connectivity to other modes Rural Americans are losing intercity access

10 U.S. Department of Transportation Research and Innovative Technology Administration Data and Statistics Development (cont’d)  Economy and Finance □ Transportation Service Index (TSI) ▪Monthly index measures freight/passenger movement. ▪Is exploring the possibility of TSI as a leading economic indicator for recessions and growth cycles Change in Freight TSI

11 U.S. Department of Transportation Research and Innovative Technology Administration Data and Statistics Development (cont’d)  Economy and Finance (cont’d) □ Transportation Satellite Accounts ▪Estimate the contribution of both for-hire and in-house transportation services to the national economy. In 1997, transportation services contributed $368B of value-added to the economy, with trucking dominating.

12 U.S. Department of Transportation Research and Innovative Technology Administration Data and Statistics Development (cont’d)  Economy and Finance (cont’d) □ Government Financial Statistics ▪Contains statistics on transportation-related revenues and expenditures of federal, state and local governments for all modes of transportation. □ Statistics on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) ▪Update ARRA data continually and display in a thematic map.

13 U.S. Department of Transportation Research and Innovative Technology Administration Coordinate Geospatial Data Development  BTS represents USDOT at the Federal Geographic Data Committee (FGDC). □ Developing a business plan for the Geospatial Platform, and for the Transportation for the Nation initiative.  Developed a web-based mapping application for the watch standers in the USDOT Crisis Management Center.  Developed State Facts and Figures web mapping application, which went live early this year.

14 U.S. Department of Transportation Research and Innovative Technology Administration Modernize Data Programs  2012 Commodity Flow Survey □ For the first time, CFS respondents are able to respond to the survey via a web survey tool and, to date, almost half of all responses have been submitted via the web option.  2010 National Census of Ferry Operators □ A new data query tool is developed to facilitate the access and usage of the survey data.  Airline Information System □ An end-to-end process is being developed to: ▪Monitor, on the real-time basis, the quality of the data submitted by air carriers ▪Develop automated ways to update business rules to check data quality ▪Flag outliners and abnormalities for more in-depth analysis ▪Streamline data processes

15 U.S. Department of Transportation Research and Innovative Technology Administration Promote and Validate Data and Method  BTS assists/participates in □ Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s pilot program, where the ability of Mexico-based motor carriers to operate safely in the United States beyond the municipalities and commercial zones will be tested. □ National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA)’s effort to determine a better methodology to project highway fatalities and the highway fatality rate. □ NHTSA’s Tire Pressure Monitoring System Program where the benefits will be measured.  BTS assists in the Paper Reduction Act/OMB review process for all OMB requests originated from DOT. On average, BTS reviews 4 to 5 packages per months from various modal administrations.

16 U.S. Department of Transportation Research and Innovative Technology Administration Make Statistics Accessible  Statistical Public Data Application Program Interface (API) to □ Help provide automated access data □ Provide data in a format that will inspire crowd-sourcing – the development of web/mobile applications □ Partner with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Bureau of Labor Statistics and Bureau of Census  BTS Web Re-Engineering  State Transportation Facts and Figures

17 U.S. Department of Transportation Research and Innovative Technology Administration Foster Knowledge Transfer  Multi-pronged approach □ National Transportation Library (NTL) ▪ Physical ▪ Digital □ Transportation Knowledge Networks  Public Launch of USDOT Research Hub □ A database links research project to final reports in the NTL Digital Repository.  Visualization of Transportation Research Trends □ A tool to uncover trends in transportation research over time. □ Partner with the University of Maryland’s Center for Advanced Transportation Technology Laboratory (CATT LAB).

18 U.S. Department of Transportation Research and Innovative Technology Administration Knowledge Transfer (cont’d)  Multi-pronged approach □ National Transportation Library (NTL) ▪ Physical ▪ Digital □ Transportation Knowledge Networks  Public Launch of USDOT Research Hub □ A database links research project to final reports in the NTL Digital Repository.  Visualization of Transportation Research Trends □ A tool to uncover trends in transportation research over time. □ Partner with the University of Maryland’s Center for Advanced Transportation Technology Laboratory (CATT LAB).

19 U.S. Department of Transportation Research and Innovative Technology Administration Other Initiatives  The Journal of Transportation and Statistics (JT&S) □ JT&S Editorial Board convened ▪27 Members: 17 academia (12 in US); 4 private; 6 public □ Papers received thus far for first issue: 28 (as of March 1) □ Anticipate subscription base of 1,000 □ Planned date of first issue – Fall/Winter 2012  American Statistical Association’s Transportation Statistics Interest Group □ Composed of statisticians, economists, and analysts who are interested in : ▪developing and applying statistical methods to address problems in transportation, ▪analyzing transportation data, ▪collecting transportation data, and ▪formulating mathematical models that describe and explain underlying mechanisms or processes in transportation.

20 U.S. Department of Transportation Research and Innovative Technology Administration Other Initiatives (cont’d)  C-SPAN’s Washington Journal for Friday: Engaging Americans on American Statistics □ An collaborative effort of all 14 Federal Statistics Agencies □ “Nation’s Transportation Infrastructure.” Aired in December, 2011 □ “Air Transportation Performances.” To be aired in April,  International Collaborations □ North American Transportation Statistics Interchange □ International Transport Forum on research workshops □ Contribute USA transportation statistics published in various reports/databases by the United Nations Economic Commission.

21 U.S. Department of Transportation Research and Innovative Technology Administration Activities Planned to Improve Methodologies or Update Statistics  Re-design of the Omnibus Household Survey □ To assist other components of USDOT to acquire public feedback in an expeditious manner. □ To expand the survey coverage to establishment populations  Enhance TSI methodology to include the entirety of passenger travel.  Reduce the lag time in TSA development.  Update the 2004 study on transportation investment.